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Howard Wilkinson: Politics and More

Credit Michael Keating

Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU news team as the politics reporter and columnist in April 2012 , after 30 years of covering local, state and national politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. On this page, you will find his political blog, his weekly column, Politically Speaking; the Monday morning political chats with news director Maryanne Zeleznik and other news coverage by Wilkinson. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio gubernatorial race since 1974, as well as 14 presidential nominating conventions. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots, the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, the Air Canada plane crash at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983, and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. And, given his passion for baseball, you might even find some stories about the Cincinnati Reds here from time to time.

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Final three days of early voting

12:00 am

Sun October 21, 2012

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has settled the hash and allowed in-person voting at Ohio boards of Elections on the final three days before the Nov. 6 election to go forward, there is only one question worth asking.

Was it worth the fight the Obama-Biden campaign put up to stop Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, from doing away with those three days?

Depends on who you ask.

If you ask the Obama-Biden campaign and its Democratic allies, the answer is an unqualified “yes.”

Inside Pitch

2:16 pm

Thu October 18, 2012

Hamilton County Republicans have a raft of get-out-the-vote events scheduled over the next week, involving everything from visits from high-profile GOP senators to a night of Greek cuisine at a Republican volunteer call center.

On Saturday, Sen. Kelly Ayotte – who was considered a contender for the GOP vice presidential nomination this year – will headline a “Republicans Top to Bottom” rally at the Sharonville Convention Center.

Inside Pitch

12:22 pm

Thu October 18, 2012

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), is kicking off a multi-state bus tour in Finneytown Friday - a tour aimed in Ohio at touting the re-election of President Obama and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

The AFT - which represents about 1.5 million teachers nationwide - is one of the most active labor unions supporting the re-election of President Obama.

Inside Pitch

2:14 pm

Wed October 17, 2012

In the pantheon of campaign surrogates for the Obama-Biden campaign, few can claim more star power than former president Bill Clinton.

But, Thursday in Parma, a Cleveland suburb, the 42nd President of the United States may have met his match and then some in the "star power" category when he attends a get-out-the-vote rally at Cuyahoga Community College with rock legend Bruce Springsteen.

Ohio can vote on final three days

2:25 pm

Tue October 16, 2012

Ohio voters will be able to cast ballots at their county boards of election on the final three days before the election, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s appeal of a federal court ruling.

Immediately after the decision was rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court, Husted, the Republican who is Ohio’s chief elections officer, issued a directive to all 88 county boards of elections setting uniform hours for voting in-person at the boards on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the Tuesday, Nov. 6 election.